The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“Goblins never HAVE to do anything that they don’t want to,” Marge said, then held up a little brown bag. “Made ya some fresh rolls. Shouldn’t face the apocalypse on an empty stomach.”

‘How can a woman seven thousand years younger than me act like a mother?’ Sadie thought, taking the bag and kissing the goblin on the head. Vlad was at her side instantly. She smiled and handed him a bit of baked heaven while she scarfed down another. “Mmmh,” she moaned happily.

Mel came over, but she wasn’t interested in food. “Sadie, they’ve been holed up in there for an hour. Solomon’s got most of the Rampart on the shields, but not all of them, and what’s left of his Blood Brood is inside too.”NôvelDrama.Org content rights.

“They can’t accept the challenge for him,” Sadie said. “They can’t enter the circle once the challenge has begun. I know he’s up to something, but I’ll be damned if I can say what it is.”

Mel kissed her creator’s forehead, then a brief but warm kiss on the lips. Mary would forgive her this one indiscretion. “You’re smarter than anyone I know, and you’re a survivor. You’ll figure out how to win this. I know you will.”

Lord Frost had walked out to the center of the circle, looking like he was preparing to make an announcement.

“Arrogant bastard,” Sadie said. “He isn’t the master of ceremonies here.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Frost’s voice boomed out, hushing the enormous crowd to silence, “tonight, the Devil incarnate has returned from the grave to challenge the Blood Saint of the vampires –”

“Blah blah blah,” Vlad growled. “He’s just trying the crowd against you again.”

“The energy of the crowd can be a weapon,” Sadie replied. “Many a king were toppled by an angry mob.”

“Then you need to get your message out there.”

She nodded, turning to Melissa. “So what do you think? Want to be my spokesperson?”

“Me?!” Mel yipped. “I’m a horrible public speaker and –”

“You are perfect,” Sadie said, taking her daughter’s hands. “You believe in me, and that means something. Don’t be intimidated by Frost. He may be older than you, but you are of MY blood, and don’t forget that. You can be just as powerful as him, maybe moreso. I need whoever speaks for me to speak from the heart, even if that heart is dead.” Sadie returned the kiss from earlier. “Mary chose you not because you were weak but because you were strong enough to withstand anything. I believe in your strength too.”

Mel turned back to Frost, who was just finishing up his speech, reciting the great Lie . . . the story of Eve’s betrayal of Adam and Solomon. It raise the hair on her necks to think of the pain and scorn that her friend had endured in silence for so long. Without looking back, she walked towards the center, the magical shield allowing her to slip by. She was terrified, but she wasn’t going to let Sadie down.

On the outskirts of the circles, she saw many blue glows. The wraiths wanted to get closer . . . to kill Solomon, but they were being held at bay by hordes of witches. One wraith seemed less animalistic than the rest, and her eyes followed every step Melissa made. Mary even raised her hand to her heart then her lips, finally pointing at Mel.

“You’re in way over your head little girl,” Frost snarled under his breath, pushing down on her with his presence. He looked somewhat shocked when all she did was smile in response.

“Don’t try parlor tricks on me old man. My mother is the mother of us all, and I look forward to her punishing you for you insolence.” Then she turned her back on him. “To all those in attendance here and those watching from afar, I have a far different story to tell.” Her voice carried like music through the air, surprising even herself. She could do this. She WOULD do this. “Since many great civilizations now long gone were nothing but a dream of the future, a great Lie has been told by Solomon and by people like Lord Frost.” She launched into the truth that Sadie had described to her, leaving nothing out. Some would be embarrassing to Sadie and some would be graphic, but she wanted the mob to know the real woman . . . the beautiful creature who had suffered for the mortal world and suffered still. When Frost had finished his speech, the crowd had seemed suspicious of Sadie . . . of Eve. Now, a balance had been formed.

Frost and Melissa, having spoken their respective pieces, headed towards the edge of the circle again.

“You’ll pay dearly for this,” Frost muttered.

“When Solomon is gone, you’ll be the one left at the table holding the check,” Melissa replied.

“I’m going to enjoy putting you in your place,” Frost said. “At my feet, begging my forgiveness.”

“I’d just as soon rip your heart out through your asshole.” Melissa wanted to hurt him, Bart may have started her problems, but Frost was the one who ordered Dazza to do it. She didn’t know if Frost had done it himself, but she was sure he was responsible for Terrence’s death. “But I think I’ll let HER do it,” she added, glancing over her shoulder at Sadie who was taking the field, “after she’s done ripping Solomon apart.”

Frost smiled, and it made Melissa more nervous than she could say. “I wouldn’t be betting on that if I were you.”

‘Damn it,’ she thought as she stepped out of the circle, ‘What are they up to?’

Vlad gave Sadie a quick but well formed kiss before she passed completely over into the challenge area. Again, it probably wasn’t the wisest thing to be displaying affection in front of the cameras, but she wanted to know the taste of him before the fight. A reminder of what she would win. Then she put him behind her and walked on alone.

It didn’t take long before Solomon emerged from the canvas cave where she had sensed him. He dressed this time in black robes and was smiling from ear to ear. Sadie had never heard of him wearing anything but red or white, but she didn’t know the significance of the change. Around them, the magical dome seemed to shift, taking on the consistency of glass. No one else could come in now. It was as it had begun . . . Eve and Solomon.

“So my love, what name shall I call you?” Solomon crooned, using that voice of his. Sadie wasn’t sure if he was actually trying to affect her or he couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t working regardless . . . mostly. She remembered the first time that voice had whispered in her ear after losing her virginity all that time ago. It had been so magical, to her at least.

“As long as you don’t call me your ‘love,’ it doesn’t really matter does it?”

“You’ve had many names I suspect, but I shall call you Eve. Though if you want, I can call you MINE again. We don’t have to do this.”

“Oh I think we do,” Eve said calmly. “You can fool the rest of them, but we both know what happened on the ground of your ‘paradise.’ We know what Adam did to me . . . what YOU did to me. We know who made who here, and we know that you’re just a pretender.”

Solomon’s face glowed with a pure kind of anger. “You were as much a fool then as you are now. All the power that you could have had and still could, yet you live in . . . in some metal tube and cavort with the lowest of all life forms. You take some desk clerk and make her one of us?”

“Your sister will make a better vampire than you ever could,” Eve replied. “And as for the lower life forms, they have more life and heart and passion than you could imagine. Unlike you, they deserve the love I offer them. Unlike you, they accept it. I would’ve given you the world once,” she whispered, but more out of nostalgia than weakness. “Now, I will take it from you, and salt the earth so that you will never come back. You should have made sure I had died my second death on that beach.”

“I should have done many things,” Solomon said, cracking his neck in one direction and then the other. For a moment, he almost sounded . . . regretful? “But it is too late to change the past. It is too late to stop me Eve. You have no chance here.”

She shook her head. “You never did respect my power,” she said. “That will change now.” She raised her head and shoulders high. “Solomon, you have betrayed me, your creator and mother of our race. You have lied to those you have Turned, and you have lied to the mortal races. What you seek is blasphemous in my eyes, and now it must stop. I challenge you to a dual to the death. The eternal embrace of darkness is all that is left to you.”

“Not quite all,” he said, his grin now genuinely evil. With that, he struck her . . . hard. She went flying thirty feet through the air, striking the side of the dome.

“What the fuck?!” Vlad shouted. ‘There’s no way he should be able to have done that!’

That was the same thought that was shooting through Sadie’s pain-wracked mind. That had been too fast, and he hit harder than she had ever imagined. Where did he find that kind of power? She didn’t have time to dwell on it, as Solomon was charging forward, his elbow coming for her neck. She launched upward, her wings carrying her over his head as she kicked him in the bloody cut over his eye, then another kick in the back of his head as she landed on the other side. Whatever his power level was doing, she was still a better fighter. She had served in more militaries and on more police forces than Solomon could imagine.

“Clever,” Solomon said, turning around. He didn’t seemed to be to badly effected, and those had been some hard kicks. “Clever won’t save you. Submit now, and I will be merciful. You will have to be punished of course and renounce your side of the story –”

Eve did a spinning back kick, but Solomon caught her foot and shoved her away. She was able to catch her balance using her wings, but her opponent was right behind her. He punched her once in the lower back, and she was afraid he might have ruptured something. True, she didn’t really need her kidneys anymore, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch. She collapsed onto the ground and heard Solomon approaching from behind. She braced herself on her forearms and mule-kicked him in the stomach with both feet. That made him stagger backward while she regained her footing, but then he just kept coming.

‘That’s not possible,’ she thought. ‘He’s not even bothered.’ As he took another step, she noticed that his robe has slipped a little, and there were marks on his chest . . . marks that appeared to be drawn in blood. She snarled.